In the beginning was the Word…

What
happened after the Bible ended?

Jesus knew that the children of his time would live to see the devastating war of 67-73 AD. Maybe that’s why he said “Let the children come to me.” But what really happened to those children later in life?

Menachem is one of them. He is one of the main characters of my debut novel “The Secret Scroll of Magdala,” which will hopefully be published some time in the twenties. (We will need to get used to saying “the twenties” about the 2020s).

It is not yet possible to buy my book. In the meantime, you can read up on my projects, follow me on social media, and just be a general moral support. I am currently editing and rewriting it, hoping to send out queries and proposals to literary agents in the US towards the end of 2019.

If you are a praying person, don’t pray for me to be published. Anyone can be published nowadays. Pray that I will find the agent and the publisher that God has already elected, who already are as enthusiastic about this project as I am. Pray for my plans to succeed only if it brings glory to him (God, not the agent).

My name is Tuvia Pollack, and I am a Messianic Israeli Jewish follower of the Messiah, Yeshua. I live in Jerusalem with wife, four kids, and nine pets (last time I counted). I am also an unpublished writer of Historical Fiction.

Am I a Jew or a Christian? Both. I am Jewish, and I do believe that Jesus is the Messiah as prophesized by the prophets in the Old Testament. I am the grandson of a holocaust survivor, and 4th generation of Jews who believe in Jesus.

My goal is to write a long series of independent stories of historical fiction that together will span the time of Jesus until modern time. Some of those stories will be stand-alone books that can be read independently, others might be trilogies or duologies. All of them will fit together, as they all depict different descendants of Menachem, the main character of my first book.

Imagine, one story set in ancient Rome. Another one in the Byzantine Empire in the 400s. Another one during the time of the Crusaders. Maybe another one about the Jews in China in the 13th century. One about the writing of the Talmud in the 300s in Babylon. Maybe one about the ancient Ethiopian Christians. Maybe one about the Jewish pirates in the Caribbean. A bunch of stories set during the inquisitions, the exploration age, the holocaust, modern Israel, etc. You can either read them all chronologically, or just pick an era that you like and read about that. One thing is for sure. All my books will deal with religion, and the complicated relations between Jews and Christians. They will also all be from my Jewish Christian Evangelical Baptist worldview.

My goal is to have written all of that by 2060.

“The Secret Scroll of Magdala” is a duology of two books. So far they are the only books that I have actually written. I am currently working on rewriting them into English. I have ideas and plans drawn out for the following books as well, as well as a general idea for the greater arch.

Between February 22nd and June 30th 2019, I allowed people to sign up on a mailing list to read this duology for free. If you did that, you are currently getting two chapters in your email every two weeks or so as I am rewriting. There are a total of 61 chapters in the first book, and another 42 chapters in the second one.

I expect that the rewriting of both books will be done by summer 2020. I will start querying agents and/or publishers hopefully before the end of 2019.

The books were originally written between 2015 and 2017. It took numerous rounds of drafts, edits and test readers. I also hired a professional editor. I have read multiple books on the craft of writing, and I continuously listen to podcasts on writing to learn more and to sharpen my skills.

Am I trying to write a new Ben Hur? Not really. There are a number of Christian writers that have written amazing and well-written stories taking place around or shortly after the time of Christ. Francine Rivers, Tessa Afshar, Sandi Rog, Roseanna White and Bodie Thoene are names that come to mind. What sets me apart from them is that I put a strong emphasis on the Hebrew and the Judaism. I use Talmudic legends to enhance the story, I put a big focus on Jewish customs and holidays, synagogue prayers, etc. Of course, there are some amazing Jewish authors that already do this. Yochi Brandes, Miriam Feinberg Vamosh and Milton Steinberg for example. For them, however, Christianity is a fringe movement. Their characters are Jews who briefly meet Christians once or twice.

I try to bring the best of both worlds, and I do believe that I am uniquely capable of doing just that.

If you, who are reading this, is a literary agent or publisher and you feel that this is something you’d like to publish – by all means, contact me. (Insert Scrooge McDuck gif with dollar signs in eyes here).